Could've Been
by EagleDaydream
Summary: Songfic of 'Could've Been' by Tiffany. Hermione and Harry both need their time to think about an event, but they go through a bit of a twist. R&R please, I'm not too good at summaries. ^.^


**Could've Been**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters mentioned in this fic, as much as I would like to. ;) They belong to the great J.K. Rowling. And also, I don't own the song in this-- which is 'Could've Been' by Tiffany. For a bit of further information-- the lyrics are in italics, and ~s indicate a change of scene. Enjoy! 

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A sound of heavy and rushed footsteps emerged from the portrait hole, and in came a girl, her hands hiding her face, but leaving just enough room between her fingers so that she could see where she was going.  
Only seconds later, a breathless boy came struggling in; he had apparently been chasing her. The boy paused, looked around for a moment. The Gryffindor Common Room was quite filled. He couldn't tell how many people were gathered, but didn't care much.  
"Hermione!" the boy called quickly, though didn't follow her.  
Catching the scene just a moment later, a red-haired boy paused from a game of wizards' chess, to look up at the boy, then toward Hermione, who was now rushing up the stairs to the dormitories.  
"What'd you do to her, Harry?" Ron asked concernedly.  
Harry shook his head, and rushed over to the stairs, starting up them.  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Ron continued, now standing at his seat. "I forfeit, by the way," he added in glumly to the boy he had been playing wizards' chess with.  
Harry had paused, and turned around toward Ron. Upon Harry's face rested a somewhat thankful expression. Ron started forward, making his way to the steps. He stopped at the base of the staircase, and grinned up at Harry.  
"Y'think you were going into the girls dormitories, did you?" Ron snickered.  
Harry gave a weak smile, but his eyes fleeted, searching up the steps.   
"Are you just going to stand there, or come and tell me what just happened?" Ron broke into the temporary silence.  
Harry shrugged, and walked back down the steps. He walked over to an empty corner of the room, where there were a few chairs free, and flopped down lazily into one. Ron followed Harry's lead, and sat in a chair next to Harry's, his eyes with a mild serious expression to them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_ The flowers that you gave me  
are just about to die.  
When I think about what could've been,  
it makes me want to cry. _

Hermione flopped on her bed, gently falling with her back landing upon the bed. She stared up at the dark ceiling, idly cherishing her luck that the room had been deserted. She turned her head toward the table positioned perfectly beside her bed, with a small vase of withering roses upon it. Hermione caught herself choked up at this sight, and even more tears spilled out of her eyes. She couldn't believe what had happened. She had always thought that it would last much longer, and end on a note much sweeter than it had. The scene played again and again in her head. 

'I'm sorry-- it's just,' Harry paused, biting his lip, 'it's just not working out, Hermione.'  
'You're breaking up with me?' she retorted nervously.  
'Yes,' came the immediate response.  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_ The sweet words you whispered   
didn't mean a thing.   
I guess our song is over,  
as we begin to sing.. _

"And she didn't take it too well," Harry sighed, his eyes trailing to the ground, as he finished explaining to Ron the incident that had just occurred.  
Ron was speechless, his mouth twitching uncertainly. He ran his fingers through his red hair, as he tried to think of something to add in. Yet, for once, he didn't have his two cents to jabber about.  
An awkward silence rung through the air- at least on their side of the room, and lowered voices began speaking throughout the common room. Harry and Ron could only guess that all the gossip was about what had happened- between Hermione and Harry.  
"I'm going to take a walk," Harry said irritably, abruptly rising from his chair.  
Before Ron had a chance to protest, Harry began stalking off toward the portrait hole, and climbing out again. The moment was somewhat bittersweet, for over that matter of seconds, Ron still hadn't thought of anything to say. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_ Could've been so beautiful.  
Could've been so right.  
Could've been my lover   
every day of my life. _

Hermione's excessive weeping had been a bit calmed, as she had silently reassured herself that everything would be fine, and she would be back to normal once again. However, there were two sides to Hermione's logic about this event. Even as the one side had told her everything would be fine, and that she shouldn't cry- the other side had been telling her that this was the time to brood over what happened, and let it all out.  
All in all, Hermione had decided that she wasn't going to stay here. She stood up, stomping one of her feet during the process. Hermione pressed her hands up against her eyes, trying to remove all possible tears that stained her face. Slowly, she shuffled out the door, with the two sides of her mind still arguing with each other. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_ Could've been so beautiful.  
Could've been so right.  
I'll never know what could've been  
on a cold and lonely night. _

Harry scowled under his breath as he stormed down an empty hallway. He wasn't expecting Hermione to take his words the way that she had. He always had this thought in mind that she would be much stronger, but he realized that was only an illusion.  
The more he continued to think about the event, the more bitter he became. Harry was a bit sorry for the way Hermione had taken his words, but he was quite angry that she gave him the illusion that she was strong! He would've broken it to her more nicely than he had, if she had--  
He paused in his train of thought, and stood still for a moment, his eyes gazing out the broad window he stood in front of. The pale moonlight filtered through the glass and gave a mysterious blue light to the hallway. Harry sighed as he realized that he wasn't angry with Hermione. He was angry with himself. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_ The memories of our lovin'   
still linger in the air,  
like the faded scent of your roses  
stay with me everywhere. _

Hermione's footsteps echoed as she climbed down the staircase, and finally stopped at the base. Her eyes gazed around quickly, as she didn't want to make much of a scene in front of this many people.  
"Hermione," Ron called.   
Hermione looked quickly over in the direction of Ron's voice, and quickly made her way toward where he was seated. Ron hadn't moved from the chair he had sat in when Harry had explained to him what had happened. Hermione sat down in the chair that Harry had been sitting in, and looked over toward Ron. Ron was silent for a moment, gazing into Hermione's eyes- red from the crying she had done.  
"Harry told me about what happened," Ron said glumly. "And don't worry, Harry's out for a walk."  
Hermione shook her head, and sighed, "And I suppose that he made me look like the villain about it."  
"A bit," Ron said, a bit of a smile playing on his face.  
"It figures," Hermione scowled.   
A very short silence hung in the air, as Hermione's expression changed as quickly as Professor McGonagall could transfigure herself into a cat. Hermione's expression had gone from angry, to sorrowful, yet again.  
"Oh, Ron," Hermione wept quietly, "I didn't expect it to end this quickly. I didn't want to lose him this way, and I don't know-" she trailed off, to sniffle for a moment. "I don't know why he decided to end it, but there's still so many things we did t-together that," she paused, yet again, searching her mind for intelligent-sounding words, but none came to mind. "That won't stop from making me cry," she concluded, looking sadly at Ron. 

_ Every time I get my hopes up,  
they always seem to fall.   
Still what could've been is better than  
what could never be at all. _

"I don't want to keep trying to convince myself that he'll come back through that portrait hole, regretting what he did, and asking to come back to me," Hermione continued. "Because I know that I'm just setting myself up for d-disappointment," she sniffled.   
"Hermione," Ron said softly, "you have to realize that you can't do a thing about the way your heart acts. You can tame your mind, and fill it with convincing and wise thoughts, but you can't control how your heart interprets what happens."  
Hermione nodded silently.  
"Now, I'm not going to go around Hogwarts, saying that I know everything about broken hearts," Ron chuckled lightly, "but my advice to you would to just be to let things happen as they will. You can't understand everything, you know, Hermione," Ron grinned.  
Once again, Hermione nodded, but a bit of a chuckle overcame her.  
"Anyway, I want you to know that I _am_ sorry for your break up an' everything, and that I'm sure you're strong enough to deal with all of this," Ron continued on jabbering. "'cause you're Hermione Granger, and if you weren't brave enough to deal with these things, I'd bet that that Sorting Hat would've put you in Ravenclaw, because we all know--"  
"Would you shut up already," Hermione smirked, cutting Ron off.  
"But why?" Ron protested. "I thought I was doing good at my little spiel, wasn--"  
Once again, Hermione interrupted Ron's jabbering, but this time, it was not with the means of words. She had leaned forward over her chair, and kissed Ron rather intensely, her eyes fleeting for a moment, to make sure that they weren't being watched. However, Ron didn't protest this time. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

_ Could've been so beautiful.  
Could've been so right.  
Could've been my lover   
every day of my life. _

Harry continued his way along the paths of the hallways he had taken. He had it in mind to make it to the library as quickly as he could; he figured that paying a visit to normally silent room would ease his thoughts, and perhaps help him sort things out-- just as Hermione usually did.  
Yet, he had found himself taking a longer route to his destination. Harry found some kind of comfort in the scenes that surrounded him, in the dim gray hallways of the school. As he finally reached the entrance to the library, Harry took a few steps into the room, in which only five students were in view: three anonymous Ravenclaws studying at a large table, a first-year Gryffindor girl entranced in a book of muggle myths, and a blonde-haired Slytherin scribbling down furiously on a paper. It was Malfoy. Fortunately, Malfoy hadn't noticed Harry's entrance into the library, as he tried to keep as silent as possible. At that moment, although, Harry decided that he didn't want to be there. He retreated as quickly as possible back out into the hallway, holding his breath, and hoping urgently that he hadn't been noticed.   
Harry started back down the same direction he had taken to get to the library; no shouts of mockery emerged from the library, thankfully. Harry continued down the same hallways, stairs, twists, and turns he had traveled across to make his way to the library, except going back the opposite way. He was headed back toward the Gryffindor Common Room, most certainly.   
As Harry finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, he mumbled a password, and the portrait swung open. He cautiously entered the Common Room. His eyes met the sight that had not changed much. The amount of Gryffindors scattered around had decreased a bit, but the room stayed rather filled, nevertheless. And then, he saw it. Far at the corner of the room, seated where he and Ron had been a short while before, were Hermione and Ron, now involved in some sort of snog-fest. 

_ Could've been so beautiful.  
Could've been so right.  
You can't know what could've been  
on a cold and lonely night. _

"Hermione? Ron?" Harry called, his tone choked up, and almost unbelieving.  
Harry approached the two at a moderate pace, his eyes filled with complete surprise. He was shaking uncontrollably as he walked forward. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

As the sound of Harry's voiced reached Hermione and Ron, they quickly stopped their kissing, and broke apart immediately. They both stared forward at Harry, not speaking a word.   
By now, everyone in the room was staring at the sight, now completely interested in the scene that would unfold. The only sound that rung in the air was the sound of a small explosion caused by Fred and George, causing a few heads to turn. A faint smoke lingered in the air, but the twins didn't pay much attention to it. Instead, the twins were taken aback by the silence, and turned to see what had happened.   
"Your brother apparently is quite the charmer-- t'Hermione over there, at least, you should've _seen_ the snog-fest that Harry just stopped," a Gryffindor informed the two quietly, but with a very amused tone.  
The twins gasped unanimously. Fred's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and George's jaw hung open.  
"And to think this happened right behind our backs!" George whispered to Fred.  
"Hah- way to go, Ronnie-kins!" Fred laughed aloud.  
A wave of light laughter soared across the Common Room, and Ron blushed as red as his hair. Yet, in a moment, the Common Room was silent, again.  
"I came to apologize for the way I broke things to you Hermione," Harry finally spoke up, with a hint of agitation in his voice, "but apparently, you've found your own way to deal with it."  
Both Ron and Hermione had been expecting an unpleasant response from Harry, but they were quite shocked at Harry's bitterness.   
"Harry, I realized I had to move on," Hermione began.  
"Oh, yes, move on right to my-- and your own-- best friend, why don't you?" Harry grumbled.  
Hermione narrowed her eyes, and spoke once again: "You didn't let me finish-- I was going to say that _you_ need to move on, as well."  
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Hermione, I'm not as weak as you," Harry scowled.  
Half the Common Room was shocked at this small dispute, and each person hung on every word that was spoken.  
"Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "Don't take your anger out on Hermione just because she decided to leave the past behind her."  
Harry shot a glare at Ron, and was just about to snap a retort to him, but once again, Hermione interjected.  
"Move on, Harry," Hermione said, "I thought you would've already made up your mind, now that we've broken up."  
Harry walked away angrily, heading up the stairs-- his feet stomping upon each stair, echoing loudly down to the Common Room. He paused at the top of the staircase, as a small tear rolled down his cheek. Now, it really was too late. 

_ Could've been so beautiful.   
Could've been so right.  
You can't know what could've been   
on a cold and lonely night.  
How can you know what could've been  
on a cold and lonely night? _

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[ A/N: Wow! That turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would end up being. Hope you all liked it, anyway. Feel free to R&R! :D ] 


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